Security

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Africa: Visa Bonds Up to $15,000 From October 23: New U.S. Policy Targets Travelers from Africa$

Beginning October 23, 2025, citizens of seven African countries seeking business or tourist visas to the United States will face a new hurdle: the requirement to post refundable bonds of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000, with the exact amount determined by consular...

Sahel: Surging Jihadist Violence Batters the Sahel, Exposing Government Weakness$

By Arezki Daoud: A surge in jihadist violence has rocked the Sahel region through late September and early October 2025, disrupting lives from the deserts of northern Burkina Faso to the scrublands of northeastern Nigeria. Militants have overrun military bases,...

Mali: Ongoing Attacks Prompt Longer Curfew in Western Mali$

Authorities in Mali have extended the curfew in Kayes for another month, following a series of violent attacks attributed to armed groups operating in the region. The nightly movement restriction, running from midnight to 5 a.m., is designed to limit nighttime travel...

Northwest Africa’s Fishing Crisis Intensifies$

In Nouadhibou, Mauritania’s bustling fishing hub, the docks don’t hum the way they once did. Factories that once packed and shipped thousands of tons of fish now stand eerily quiet, and conversations among local workers tend to spiral back to just one question: Where...

Mali: Diplomatic Rift Widens as France Expels Malian Envoys, Halts Counterterrorism Ties$

Tensions between Mali and France have escalated after Paris expelled two Malian diplomats and suspended joint counterterrorism activities, responding to last month’s arrest of a French national whom the Malian government accuses of conspiring with local officials to...

Niger Dissolves Hundreds of Private Security Firms in Major Industry Overhaul$

Niger’s government has shuttered 400 private security companies by ministerial decree, implementing a sweeping sector-wide reset in an effort to impose tighter conditions and oversight on an industry previously marked by legal ambiguity and fragmented operations....

Sahel: Insurgents make major gains in northeast MaliF

By Amaury Hauchard Jihadists aligned with the Islamic State group are advancing in northeastern Mali, prompting terrified citizens to flee their homes, sources there say. The Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) launched an offensive in the Gao and Menaka...

Sahel: Conflict in Sahel spills over Togo with thousands of displaced by violenceF

More than 4,000 people have been displaced this year in northern Togo after the security climate worsened following jihadist attacks in neighbouring Burkina Faso, the government said. Togo and its West African coastal neighbours Benin, Ghana and Ivory Coast are facing...

Sahel: Rights watchdog urges independent probe into Chad deathsF

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Chad to let outside investigators probe clashes last week between security forces and anti-junta protestors that left dozens of dead. "Chadian authorities need to immediately ensure that an effective, independent investigation will...

Sahel: Deadly year for northern MaliF

Armed groups affiliated with the Islamic State group have massacred hundreds of people in northeast Mali this year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday, adding the state was not doing enough to protect civilians. Tens of thousands of villagers from the Menaka and...

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